The Combination of Food and Family: A Format Which Resonates with Audiences

Nine is bringing back audience favourite Family Food Fight for season two in late 2018, with tweaks to the format to better highlight the dishes and the relationships between contestants.

Nine’s Head of Content Production and Development, Adrian Swift, says the power of this TV format, which has been picked up in multiple overseas TV markets, lies in how it combines food with family.

“What we like about Family Food Fight, where we think the power of the format lies, is that it’s everyday people cooking dishes that you could cook at the weekend,” says Swift.

“Being crowned Australia’s favourite family cooks is quite an accolade. Family Food Fight is about easy-to-cook dishes, cooked by genuinely good chefs who care passionately about that great Australian-style bistro cooking dish.”

Swift says the timing of the program, coming in the last quarter of 2018, will also make it appeal to marketers in the run-up to Christmas.

“We think Family Food Fight is a great vehicle for integration for a couple of reasons. It’s not just format. The time of year is also important. People stop thinking about the day-to-day grind and start thinking about Christmas, celebration, being around their family, and great food.

“So Family Food Fight is not just a great brand to be part of because the integration is logical, but also because it’s on at a time of year when customers are spending up.”

Nine has confirmed it will make important changes to the format this season to highlight the relationships between family members, eg. sisters or mother and son, and showcase the food being cooked by simplifying the number of dishes.

“We are going to make this season less complicated,” says Swift. “If season one suffered from anything it was having too many people cooking too many dishes.

“This year contestants will be cooking in pairs and cooking three dishes: entree, main and dessert.”

The power of this lifestyle-reality program has registered with audiences not just in Australia but overseas, with several other TV markets picking up the Family Food Fight format.

“Food is a gift, cooking is a gift, and one of the greatest gifts you can give your family is the gift of a great meal. This show is all about celebrating just that,” Swift said.

“Family Food Fight has been incredibly successful overseas. It has now been sold to one of the big networks in America, the UK, Germany and Argentina. What makes the format attractive in these countries is that, like here, it celebrates both food and family.”